I Have No Regrets
by Alice May Sawyer
Summary: Carlton gets an unexpected visit by a person he thought he never again would see. Short, little one-shot. Fluff and kind of out of character...Enjoy!


**A/N: SO! I'm procrastinating and putting off continuing my other stories AND I got the sudden idea for this, so there you have it; short little ficlet about our favorite head detective, LASSIFRASS! Enjoy and make sure to review! :)**

**Disclaimer: Sigh...If _only_ I owned Psych...If I did, Lassie would be in the show much more often, Marlowe would've been in the picture sooner, and they'd already be married with little Lassie's.**

Head detective Carlton Lassiter trudged into the Santa Barbara Police Department, followed by a few rookies and his partner, Juliet O'Hara-Spencer. Everyone was in a general good mood after Shawn Spencer's big reveal for a case they had been struggling with for a good two months now.

But finally solved of not, it didn't change a thing on how Lassiter viewed the pseudo psychic.

"Hey, Lassiter," a rookie called to the older man, a small smile playing on his lips in an attempt to be friendly. "We were all gonna go to the bar and celebrate. You wanna tag-along?"

The detective in question glared at the auburn haired rookie. "No, I will not 'tag-along.' Unlike the rest of you, I actually have a life that doesn't revolve around worshipping Spencer...the idiot."

The rookie shook his head and walked towards the exit, muttering something under his breath that Carlton couldn't quite understand, but was pretty sure that was somewhere along the lines of 'How after seven years of marriage to sweet, happy Marlowe Viccellio did she not manage to already change him from being such an ass?' But Carlton merely thought the defense he always did when confronted with a statement such as that; 'Marlowe was the better of two halves...and besides, just because at home he was significantly kinder and watched enough Nick Jr. and Disney Jr. with his four year old daughter that he could probably recite every episode of 'Blue's Clues', 'Dora the Explorer', 'Bubble Guppies', and 'The Wiggles' from memory, didn't mean he was supposed to suddenly be a softie at work. He had a reputation to uphold...'

Considering it was almost seven at night, he started going towards his desk to grab his jacket and head home. But as soon as he turned the corner of one of the many pillars, he saw the silhouette of a person outlined in the dim lighting; idly picking at papers and pens and sitting in his chair. By instinct, he reached for his gun in his holster; cursing when he found it empty.

Deciding that finding out who this mysterious person was, was more important than his missing gun right at the moment, he proceeded to make his way towards his inhabited desk; quickly making a mental list of all his known enemies in the process. But the familiar brown eyes he found looking up at him, the tangle of red hair that surrounded that pale, thin face he thought he would never again see, threw him off so much...brought up such a spew of emotions, he thought that any number of the hundreds of people that had made threats against his life would be better than the woman he was currently facing.

Lassiter cleared his throat and spoke in such a way that sounded more like a question than a statement. "Vic...Victoria."

She smiled a little and said in a much more confident tone than the former, "Carlton, good to see you again."

Instantly he felt the years of intense anger and lonliness begin to bubble up inside him. It took all the could not to throttle the rookie that happened to pass by for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

"I was...checking in on you..." she answered, not meeting his eyes.

"Why?"

"I see you got re-married..." She avoided his question, picking up the silver framed picture of Marlowe holding their daughter; a then two year old, Hollie.

"And had a child..." she added with what he could only place as saddness.

"Two actually," he corrected. "That's an older picture...my son, Aaron, was born five months ago."

"Two children..." she muttered to herself, absentmindedly rubbing her thumb over the glass covered picture.

He again cleared his throat, becoming a bit uncomfortable with the situation. "So...what have you done with your life? Er- I mean, how have you been?" He wasn't exactly sure why, but he slowly began to feel his anger dissolve away...perhaps it was the forlorn expression she bore...

Victoria slightly shrugged. "I suppose I've been fine," she smirked a little. "Clearly not as good as you've been..."

He gave her an inquisitory look as she looked up into his bright blue eyes. "I've tried dating...starting a new life, but it never seemed to work with anyone. Eventually I just gave up...or maybe everyone just gave up on me."

Carlton scoffed. "If you're insinuating that my relationship with Marlowe hasn't had any challenges, then you're sadly mistaken. Hell, I couldn't even _touch _her let alone kiss her the first fourteen months we were together..."

"Yes, but you still _had_ a relationship. Despite everything, you still had someone who trusted you..someone who needed you."

"...Why are you here, Victoria?" he repeated his question from before.

Her face took on a slight reddish tint. "I was actually hoping to get some drinks with you...maybe make up for what happened between us...for time lost..."

"You clearly see now that I in fact have moved on and have a family."

"Well the offer still stands," she stated, her voice a little lighter with small hints of hope.

Carlton slowly shook his head, all anger completely morphed to pity now. "Victoria..." he sighed, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. "I will always love you...I can't help it...but- and I'm sorry to break it to you- but Marlowe is my life now. Marlowe, Hollie, and Aaron are the only things, other than work, that matter now and I love them altogether more than I loved you our entire marriage. Again, I am truly sorry, but it's simply the truth. And frankly, I'm grateful you decided to end things...if you hadn't, I would have never met my wife. Well, that's not entirely true; I would've met her, but certainly under different circumstances and under a different light."

Victoria frowned and stood from his chair. "That, perhaps, is the one regret I have in life; letting you get away, Carlton." And with that, she left the station. He was now certain that this really _would_ be the last time he ever saw his first wife.

* * *

"I wanna pizza with candy, and chocolate, and pesghatti," four year old Hollie called to her mother, as she bounced in her chair.

"All as toppings?" Marlowe asked the toddler with mock surprise; she heard it all the time with Hollie and loved every second of it.

The small blonde girl giggled and nodded, her curls bouncing as she did so. "Yeah! Oh and muh-shooms for Daddy."

"Or, here's an idea, we can just have regular spaghetti and meatballs like I'm already making..." the mother suggested.

Hollie pursed her lips in a manner much like her father's and finally nodded her head once after a few seconds. "Okay. But can we have my pizza tomorrow? Yeah?"

Marlowe smiled and kissed her daughter's head. "Maybe...if you finish all your dinner tonight."

Hollie made a face of disgust. "Even the vegetables?"

"It still hasn't chaned from last night, honey."

"But, Mommy, they're so _yucky__!_" the young girl exclaimed as the door opened, Carlton coming over the threshfold.

"Daddy!" she squealed, hopping off her seat and running to her father, latching onto his leg.

The detective picked her up and kissed his daughter's head.

"Hi sweetie," he greeted and placed her back in her seat where she resumed her previous bouncing.

Carlton then went to his wife who smiled at him, warmly greeting him, "Welcome ho-"

Marlowe's welcome was cut off by her husband suddenly sweeping her into his arms and giving her a tender, loving kiss.

"Ew, Daddy! That's gross!" Hollie called from the background.

However, Marlowe smiled widely at him, cheeks red from his spontaneous actions. "What was that for?" she asked breathlessly.

Carlton wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned his forehead against her own. "I don't have any regrets about anything that has happened in our relationship, Mrs. Lassiter."

Marlowe kissed him back; this a softer, but just as loving kiss. "I love you too, Carlton."

**A/N: Huh? So? I kinda wanted to show that side of dear Lassie we never really see...even if this is pretty out of character...anyway, tell me what you think!**


End file.
